


The Ladybug Puppet Show

by SparklyAxolotl



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Animaestro, Comedy, Don’t copy to another site, Gen, ml salt
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-11
Updated: 2019-12-09
Packaged: 2020-05-01 16:53:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 12,646
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19181929
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SparklyAxolotl/pseuds/SparklyAxolotl
Summary: After watching the Ladybug Movie, Alya and Nino decide to show their discomfort with its innacuracies in a creative way.





	1. How to Succeed Thanks To Spite

**Author's Note:**

> Based on the Ladybug Puppet Show premise I published on Tumblr, which people seemed to love (Seriously? More than a thousand note o: I’m flattered and a bit scared) https://sparklyaxolotlstudent.tumblr.com/post/185479139905/sparklyaxolotlstudent-sparklyaxolotlstudent
> 
> As always, be warned that my writing style is more comedic(and slightly nonsensical) than anything, but I try! (But seriously, don’t expect fluff or angst with this… at least not good ones… or ones on purpose. )

“So, how it was?”

Alya gave a start at Adrien appearing out of nowhere when she closed her locker. So Marinette was right after all and Adrien was sneaky as a cat and not just her obliviousness. Oh, well, she will apologize later.

It had been a week after the whole Animaestro thing and the Ladybug Movie had been officially released and of course Alya had gone to the premiere with Nino, as both Adrien and Marinette had refused. At first she thought it was because neither wanted to be a third wheel, even thought Alya’s original intentions were for it to be a double date or because they had already seen it and as it was so awesome, they would be unable to contain the spoilers… oh boy, was she wrong.

The movie had been an awful mess. Ladybug and Chat Noir were unlikable to the point most people in the theater were cheering for Hawk Moth. Alya understood that things like Kwamis were technically a secret to the general public, and obviously they wouldn’t be able to show their identities, but still, the movie has lots of issues of continuity, bad edition, characters would go back and forth on their development, Ladybug acted like a happy-go-lucky girly girl who always needed saving, and Chat Noir attitude made Batman seem like… well, the real Chat Noir. None of his flirty, likeable self was portrayed there, instead he was a creepy stalker for Ladybug, and needed a kiss from her to be able to take off his miraculous, which was deemed a “curse”.

Alya had to force herself to finish the movie, and after it she had gone to her parents for legal advice, as Lady Wifi, the Bubbler and a lot of other Akumas had appeared, and they didn’t even asked for their permission for that. Unfortunately, or fortunately, the city had determined that the akumas weren’t legally the same person as the victims, so they wouldn’t face consequences for their actions. Alya was furious, as they had also whitewashed her, and portrayed as a stereotypical valley girl who couldn’t survive without her phone.

“Alya?”

The sunshine boy called her attention. Alya suddenly remembered that he had voiced Chat Noir, but the movie had sounded nothing like him.

“Yes?”

“The movie. What do you think?”

“Adrien, sweetie, you’re one of my best friends, and I would never lie to you” Adrien beamed. “But I’m gonna flee so I don’t have to answer that question.” And she was gone.

Adrien stood there several seconds, confused. He could hear Plagg snickering inside him. The fact that Plagg had to phase inside him had always grossed him out, but now he was more worried about Alya’s opinion on the movie.

He sadly limped to the classroom, were Alya was already talking with Marinette and Nino.

“You can say it, it sucked”

“But Adrien was so proud of having voiced Chat Noir!”

“Yeah… I watched it in the special V.I.P. premiere, remember? That Guy gave me his ticket. Adrien was very disappointed they altered his voice… and the whole character of Chat Noir”

“You should have warned us” protested Nino

“Yeah, I thought my opinions on the movie might be biased… for reasons, and wanted you guys to experience it yourselves.”

“Liar, you wanted us to suffer like you had.”

“Well yeah, but what’s the point of being Best Friends if we don’t share some suffering every now and then”

“Point”

“It was a bad movie. So bad it was horrible. And I liked  _Street Fighter_ ” said Adrien letting himself flop into his seat next to Nino.

“Don’t you dare to compare the magnificently ridiculous masterpiece that was Street Fighter to… whatever the heck that was ever again,  _Agreste_ ” said Nino in a playfully menacing tone. “Raul Julia deserves better”

“Agreedste” replied Adrien. “But seriously, that movie was painful to watch. I can’t believe my debut on movies was…  _that_ … and That Guy is passive-aggressive blaming my inexperience as a voice actor for people not liking his ‘vision’ of that Batman slash Wolverine rip-off. I didn’t even get a script, just a bunch of random lines, and when asked what kind of emotion I should give to each, he was very vague about it… I don’t think Clara or anyone else fared better.”

“I know! I thought the line in the trailer about Ladybug being afraid of cats was bad, but her actually being scared of Chat… wow” Alya let herself dramatically fall on her desk; face first, after carefully taking her glasses off. “And the worst thing is that I mentioned going to see the movie on the Ladyblog, and now people want me to do a review.”Alya gesticulated with her hands, her head firmly planted on her desk. “How can I say in the nicest way possible ‘This movie is a stinking pile of…’?”

“Lila, Hi!” greeted Nino to the newcomer, who had just entered the classroom. Marinette openly scowled at her sight. If anyone asked, she was going to say she was thinking about the movie.

“Hi guys! What are you doing?”

“Talking about the Ladybug movie” said Alya, still her head on the desk.

“Oh, have you seen it? It was awesome, wasn’t it? I was a consultant for it.”

“WHAT” Alya practically jumped up, startling Marinette and the others. Lila had a smug smile on her face, unaware of the true opinions of her ‘friends’, especially when other people had noticed Alya yelling and were now approaching them and making her the center of attention.

“Yeah, I practically wrote the whole thing. They begged me to help them, since Ladybug and I are B.F.F.s”

“You… helped with the movie.”

“Of course. It’s not the first movie I have worked on, but they always refuse to give me credits just because I’m a minor”

“You… helped with the movie” Repeated Alya.

“Yeah. They begged me.”

“Because you’re BFFs with Ladybug”

“Yeah! Ladybug herself introduced me to them”

“And you would know everything about her.”

“Of course, we are very close”

“And of course you would make the movie as accurate as possible”

“Well, duh. Only the best for my bestie”

Alya and Nino looked at each other, as did Marinette and Adrien. Marinette was using all her willpower to not burst laughing at Lila digging her own grave.

Alya, Nino and several of the background characters they called classmates and friends seemed to be rebooting with the new information. Lila was Ladybug’s best friend, and had helped make the movie. But the movie had been horrible and inaccurate, and horribly inaccurate, even on the simplest of details, like Ladybug’s hair length, their heights, and their whole personalities. Either Lila was a really bad friend, she didn’t know squat about Ladybug… or she hadn’t helped at the movie at all. Either she was lying or was an horrible friend.

“Funny, I don’t remember seeing you at the V.I.P. party. And even Dupain-Cheng was there”

“Oh Chloe, I’m sorry I couldn’t attend, but I had a charity event scheduled the same day, and charity is more important going to the movies.”

“Oh, Lila is so nice” added Rose, with Lila smiling at their gullibility. “What was the event?”

“It was… adopting homeless dogs and cats! Yeah. Puppies too.”

“Uh? Mylene and I volunteer at the Animal Sanctuary and have never seen you there” added Ivan.

“Not the Animal Sanctuary, another association”

“The Animal Sanctuary was the only one association doing an adoption drive that day. We always check with other associations to cooperate and not overlap.”

The others were sincerely impressed that Mylene and Ivan were volunteers.

“Well, I don’t like to brag but…”

“Pft! All you do is brag! Even more than me, and that’s saying something”

Lila’s smile faltered. She turned around and started sobbing. “All right, all right, I wasn’t at that event. The truth is… it’s embarrassing… I was… getting my appendix removed.”

“… But you were here the next day”

“… I heal fast”

Before they could continue with their talk, Miss Bustier entered the classroom, and asked everyone to take their seats.

“Marinette?” asked Alya, almost inaudible. Marinette turned her head to her friend.

“Yes?”

“I’m very sorry for ever doubting you”


	2. How to succeed Thanks to spite

Marinette was having a good day.

Ever since seeing the movie, she thought it was bad, like, really bad, but since she **_is_** Ladybug, she thought that her opinion might be biased. Or the fact that she watched it with Adrien at her side, and there were times she didn’t really paid attention for daydreaming.

But Alya and Nino and Rose and Juleka and everyone else had agreed with her that the movie was awful. Well, everyone except Lila, who thought the movie was deserving of an Oscar and claimed to practically have made it herself. Oh boy, her face when Alya and the rest of the class said the movie sucked and she should know better about Ladybug because she claimed to be her best friend. Marinette’s heart warmed at the memory. And then Lila sobbed and tried to make a sad story about how she had to change stuff so people wouldn’t figure the identity of Ladybug, and while people started to doubt, Alya and Chloe had asked more questions, cornering Lila, who resorted to crocodile tears, but at this point nobody really cared. Marinette even saw a few people rolling their eyes at her. Even Rose and Mylene!

Unbeknown to Marinette, Hawk Moth had felt Lila’s rage at being defied…

“Ah, deceit, jealousy and… is that damn girl again? Seriously? Pft, to think I almost missed my telenovela for her… again. Nooroo, Dark Wings Fold!” Hawk Moth transformed into Gabriel Agreste, and a tiny purple being manifested from his brooch. "C’mon Nooroo, let’s go watch _your_ telenovela. Today Temo will finally confess to Aris that he likes him.”

“Right master… _my_ telenovela” said Nooroo, rolling his eyes behind his current holder.

So for the first time, Lila’s temper tantrum hasn’t transformed into an akuma (An considering Mr. Pigeon had appeared like 20 times already, it said something that even Hawk Moth was getting tired of her. And now she had transformed and was patrolling. She hoped to run into Chat to discuss the movie; as she could finally tell him that he had seen it, now that it was officially out.

And lo and behold, she found Chat on the roof where he had prepared a date. Not that she officially knew about that one either.

“Hey Kitty Cat!”

“Hey Buggy… bug!”

“Buggy Bug? Wow, you’re getting bad with puns.”

“Well, excuse me M’lady… I saw the movie… Is that how people see me? A creepy stalker gloomy Batman loser wannabe?”

“Of course not, That Guy just has no idea how to write believable human beings. And if anything, I am the Batman here. You’re more like Spider-man.”

“… I can live with that.”

The two of them kept talking about the movie, Ladybug finding solace in the fact that Chat shared many of her opinions… and those of her friends, including Adrien. He even used the same Batman slash Wolverine analogy! Maybe she should try to introduce them someday. Then again, Chat Noir might be a bad influence on Adrien.

They heard a “ping” sound, and Chat Noir took his cheerleader baton out of his lower back, which sounds very weird if you don’t know about him. Ladybug raised an eyebrow.

“I setted this thing so  that it would tell me when the Ladyblog updated something. Oh, hey, Alya uploaded a new video”

“Wonder what it is, we haven’t had an akuma fight in days.”

“Don’t jinx it. Bad luck is _my_ territory, being a black cat and all of that”

Chat Noir opened the video and they both watched.

The thing was hilarious. Instead of making a rant about how inaccurate the movie had been, or how ridiculous the whole premise was, Alya had made, with help of Nino no doubt,  sort of a review of the Ladybug movie, but splicing scenes and audio from the trailer, scenes from videos Alya herself had taken, and Alya in a very low budget Ladybug suit: a red shirt with uneven black spots made with marker, and her glasses with some red paper taped to them.

_“She’s scared of cats, but powerless without her feline”_ The video started, with over the top dramatic music… and a crude drawing of Chat Noir as Nyan Cat, which Marinette would latter learn was Etta and Ella’s doing.

“I am so afraid of cats! Eek! Help me, help me! I’m so scared!” Alya said, while a video of Ladybug saving a cat from a tree was showing, with Alya syncing perfectly to Ladybug’s mouth, but not matching the mood at all.

“I work alone. I’m dangerous, if you interfere with my goals, I won’t hesitate to end you” was Nino in voice over, with an over the top gruff voice that no doubt must have hurt doing it, while an image of Chat Noir being playful and flirty with Ladybug played.

“I will conquer the world with my pigeons!” Surprisingly, the video was intact from how originally was. Although that had been the 14th time of Mr. Pigeon, not the first… still, it was about the only thing the movie had got right.

Ladybug and Chat Noir were laughing out loud when the video finished. And they ended up watching it several times, forgetting patrolling altogether.

 Luckily for them, Gabriel Agreste also had an alarm for every time the Ladyblog updated… a shame that reporter girl had abandoned the idea of revealing Ladybug’s identity around the same time Rena Rouge had made her first appearance, otherwise she would probably have figured the identity of the three heroes already. Oh, and the identity of the Ninja Turtle who everyone seemed to forget always too. A shame really. Still, at least some times her information was still useful, like that time that they confessed that Chat Noir was allergic to pigeon feathers… oh, right, he had to remember to tell Nathalie to get Adrien’s medicine for allergies. Thanks to Alya he had akumatized Mr. Pigeon several times, he was not effective, but at least he was an annoyance to the heroic duo.  And now the girl had made a video that made fun of that awful, awful movie that Adrien had been eager to participate. At least they had portrayed him like a Mafia Boss… which he honestly wasn’t sure if he should feel offended or flattered. Then again, they had made him a silent threat rather than have him do evil monologues. Now THAT was unforgivable.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, Hawk Moth watched telenovelas with Nooroo, why do you think he spends so much time on his own? For plots of evil? PFT!


	3. How to succeed Thanks to spite

“what”

That was the flat reaction of Nino during lunch break, when Alya had checked the Ladyblog after sitting with Marinette and him to get lunch, and had told them the number of views their video had gotten.

“A million views.” Said Alya, still not believing it.

“But we just posted it yesterday! Even your most popular video hasn’t passed the thousand views in a day!”

“Well, like 20 views of those views are mine” confessed Marinette.

“Same” Replied Adrien, putting his tray down and sitting at Marinette’s side. “That video was hilarious, and everyone seems to hate the movie, so it’s natural it went viral.”

“Viral? We went Black Plague!”

“Oh yeah, other ladybug blogs are linking to your video too” informed Nathaniel, who sat at the other side of Marinette. 

“… You follow other ladybug blogs?”

“… well, the Daily Ladybugle did pay me for some art for their headers, soooo…”

“Traitor”

“Cheapstake”

Alya and Nathaniel blew a raspberry at each other and then laughed at their own in joke.

“Weren’t you freaking out?”

“Oh right, sorry.  A MILLION VIEWS?”

The day went normally after that, with Alya checking every now and then the ladyblog, with the views numbers getting bigger and bigger each time. Even Miss Mendeleiev congratulated Nino and Alya during class, although she did point some of the weak points the video had, which at first annoyed Alya, but she took her advice seriously when Ms. Mendeleiev had told her “Good Work”.

The day of classes finished, Miss Bustier dismissed the class and while everyone was gathering their things, Alya’s phone buzzed, indicating a new e-mail. She decided to look at it.

“WHAT THE… bug” she quickly corrected when she noticed everyone was looking at her. Luckily their teacher was gone already, as was half the class.

“What’s wrong?” asked Marinette and Nino almost in unison. 

“That… GUY!” said Alya in a very angry tone. Marinette immediately motioned to reassure her friend, not wanting her to be akumatized. Alya gave her phone to Nino, who read quickly through the e-mail.

“Whoah dude! That’s not nice at all!” Half the people who had gathered around them questioned what wrong, with the other half giving reassurance to Alya. “It’s a cease and desist letter from the lawyers of the director of the Ladybug Movie. Apparently they saw our video and want it down. They even say that if we don’t delete the video they will take the whole Ladyblog down”

Everyone started to protest.

“They can do that?”

“Legally no, but I don’t doubt they will make it very very hard for Alya to keep it” Answered Adrien. “That guy is a real piece of work.”

“But it’s not fair, we worked hard in that video!”

“Unfortunately, you guys used material from the trailer and that is most likely copyrighted”

“It should still fall under ‘fair use’ as a parody”

“Still, if this is really real, we can’t afford That Guy suing us.”

“Well, your video is awesome. Why don’t you make it again but without any of his material?”

Everyone looked at Kim as if he had grown a second head. Alya was about to protest the unfairness of having to work again, but relented, as Kim’s idea was actually good. Nino seemed to think the same.

“That’s genius! That way we can claim we are making a parody of Ladybug and Chat Noir themselves instead of that awful movie!”

“Wouldn’t that be a little mean to them? Like, it will look like you’re making fun of our heroes”

“I’m sure they’ll be fine with that” Marinette added, but Alya was doubtful.

“No, no, Rose is right; it could be seen as something mean. I’ll ask Ladybug and Chat Noir when I can, until then, that video is going down.”

“I’m pretty sure they’ll be fine with you making a parody of them. They probably already saw the original video too!”

Alya and Nino looked at Adrien weirdly.

“Holy cat, I never thought of _that_! What if they didn’t like the video? What if they thought we were making fun of them?”

“Oh my phone! What if they _agree_ with That Guy?”

“Guys relax, as Ladybug’s best friend, I’ll ask her next time I see her”

And now everyone looked at Lila. Alya had to use all her willpower to not laugh at her face. She muttered a “thank you” and along with her closest friends, she went out of the classroom and the school.

<('-'<) ^('-')^ v('-')v (>'-')>

Ladybug was a bit nervous. How would she be able to convince Chat to patrol near Alya’s, when they almost never got there? She lived in a nice neighborhood without many incidents, so unless an akuma or another trouble got them near her, they barely went there.

She saw Chat very near the bakery, almost giving her a heart attack. Damn cat was too close… she should be more careful or he could end up thinking she was in love with ‘Marinette’ or something even more awkward.

“Hey Kitty”

“M’Lady, How are you in this purrecious night?”

“Good good. Uhm..”

“Hey, I was thinking about Alya’s video, and I think we should swing by and tell her how much we loved it!”

Ladybug smiled; she loved it when Chat and she were in the same wavelength. She nodded and they went right to Alya’s, which, unsurprisingly, was looking out for them.

They talked about the video and Ladybug had to feign surprise at the cease and desist, while Chat had some words of choice that he would probably don’t repeat in front of kids. Luckily Etta and Ella were playing in the living room and he had to censor himself, after both girls glared very effectively at him.

“It was a cool video. We laughed a lot at it yesterday”

“Really? It didn’t offend you guys?”

“Nah, you were making fun of that awful movie…”

“And even if you were making fun of us, it would be cool. It sort of humanizes us, unlike that movie who tried too hard to make us otherworldly and unapproachable.”

“So… my friends and I were thinking about maybe doing another video without material from the movie… but I wanted to ask first because it might look like we were making fun of you guys and.. “

Ladybug raised her hand and placed it in Alya’s shoulder in a gesture of reassurance. “Don’t worry about it. Like I said, it humanizes us, and I bet you and your friends will make an amazing work with it.”

“Yeah, you have our blessings! Just make sure to get my rugged handsomeness and witty humor right” said Chat while doing some poses. Etta an Ella giggled and approached him.

“We made this for you Chat!” they said in unison. It was a similar drawing as before, with Chat sporting nyan cat attire. They giggled again and left the living room.

“Hey, it seems they did capture your rugged handsomeness exactly right” Chat was staring at the drawing, when Ladybug noticed tears were starting to form on his eyes. “I’m joking, I’m sure they didn’t mean to…”

“This is the nicest thing anyone has ever given to me _ever_. I should totally get a nyan cat suit.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Had some trouble writing this one. The adventure start next one!
> 
> Also no, Lila will not get a call out this time. Everyone knowing she is delusional is more fun for this particular fic.


	4. How to succeed Thanks to spite Part 4

“And then Chat Noir asked my little sisters if they could sign their drawing. He really loved it.”

Alya was telling her friends about her encounter with the heroic duo, and how they had given her their blessings for their video. She had even gone to school with her red shirt with black dots. Nino had a black shirt, and Rose had brought cat ears for him.

“This is embarrassing”

“Nah, you look _Pawesome_ bro” Marinette side-eyed Adrien after that pun.

“We’re filming after class. You’re more than welcome to join us. You can be Hawk Moth”

Adrien almost choked on his drink.

“Sorry, can’t do, I have a photo shoot”

“Really?” Marinette took out her phone and looked at her calendar. There was no scheduled thing, so it meant that Adrien was uncomfortable playing Hawk Moth. Not that she could blame him.

“Besides, Father wouldn’t like me appearing in a video without his approval”

“Your dad is no fun. What about you Girl? Want to join our circus?”

“I’m not good in front of a camera. I don’t think having Hawk Moth interpreted by a girl would be…”

“You’re gonna make Hawk Moth a girl in your video?” asked Juleka. Rose was at her side with hopeful eyes.

“Well, our first choice was Adrien, but since he’s not available… and since we’re making a parody, we might as well go all out. You wanna be Hawk Moth?” Alya eyed Juleka. She was already wearing purple clothes, so she could just use a Butterfly mask and she would be a nice and girly Hawk Moth.

“No, Rose wants to”

“WHAT”

“Well, Hawk Moth uses Butterflies, and I have that butterfly costume from last year’s festival, I could totally be a Butterfly villain!” Rose said, twirling and posing.

The group looked at each other.

“Rose that is… BRILLIANT! Do you think you can get your dress for after classes so we can film it?”

“Yes! I’ll call my mom right away!”

<('-'<) ^('-')^ v('-')v (>'-')>

“This isn’t working!”

Alya was frustrated and exhausted. Turns out, making a voiceover was much much easier than performing the stunts necessary for the video, even if they were just pretending.

Most of the class was with them, including Adrien, whose photo shoot was “cancelled” at the last minute, Ivan, who was reusing his suit from the movie to represent an Akuma. The others were extras or working behind the cameras.

Or at least tried to, as Alya reviewed their video so far; the first cameraman had been Max, who somehow forgot to record their performance. The second had been Kim, who got distracted and started recording a squirrel that somehow got inside the school. The third had been Mylene, who managed to record the whole thing, but was nervous and thus the footage was all shaky. The fourth had been Markov, who had managed to do a decent job, but by that try they all were tired and irritated, so the whole thing had been a waste of time.

“We could try again” said Nino hopeful, but catching his breath from the last stunt. Even with their daily parkour practice, this was still too much. “After we take a break”

“Yes, Ladybug, enjoy your little break, because once it is over, I will have your Miraculous! MWAHAHA” everyone looked at Rose. Despite the Fairy Princess Unicorn Butterfly Star costume, she made a scarily convincing Hawk Moth. “Sorry. Going all evil monologues is fun.”

“You should include more world play tho. Like ‘Enjoy your little break, because once it’s over, I’ll give you a lesson and get your Miraculous’” Now everyone looked at Adrien. Marinette wondered why everyone seemed to be good with evil monologues.

“ANYWAY. It’s useless; we bit more than we could chew.”

“Why don’t we try another approach?”

“Like what?”

“Well, we could edit the videos of Ladybug that you have taken…”

“I doubt we could get a coherent narrative using only fights with Akumas. Even for a Parody”

“Why don’t we make a ‘Top Ten ways the Eiffel Tower has been destroyed’?”

“For the last time Alix, we are _not_ asking Chat Noir to destroy the Eiffel Tower just for footage”

“Spoilsports”

“Why not a web animation? There are tons on the net, and some are actually good”

“Because only Nathaniel and Marinette can draw and only Max and Markov can code, and none of us can animate. Plus, if we do a crappy one That Guy could gloat that we’re nothing without his ‘awesome’ movie.”

“Why not middle point? Not live action, not animation”

“… CGI? That’s even more difficult”

“No, I mean, we can use Marinette’s dolls” everyone looked at Kim as if he was joking, but then they turned to Marinette. “I mean, she already has Ladybug, Chat Noir, and a couple of Akumas. But not Dark Cupid, even though it is the Best Akuma.”

“We are _not_ having _that_ discussion again.” Alya eyerolled. “And the dolls, while awesome, would be difficult to control especially if we go with stop motion”

“Why not puppets?” suggested Max. “They’re a valid form of entertainment and if we make them right we will be able to control their motion in an accurate manner”

“The Muppets are fairly popular and even if we are clumsy, we should be able to make a decent show with them”

“Hmm… That would give us some suspension of disbelief in certain things…”

“Well, I don’t like bragging, but I’m an expert in theatre, and have worked with the Muppets before. They wanted me in the movie, but thought I was too young and casted Amy Addams instead.”

“Wonderful! You should go and ask the company and see if they can help us with some Muppets, or at least some patterns to make them”

“Err.. I…”

“C’mon, don’t be shy, I’m sure Kermit will be glad to help, and the sooner you ask for help, the sooner we can start filming”

“I don’t have their number in my cellphone”

“Oh, don’t worry, go home and call them there if you want”

Lila mumbled something and left. Marinette was annoyed that Alya seemed to still believe the lying liar who lies.

“Ok, now let’s be real. A puppet show is probably the way to go, but the only one who can make them is Marinette, and she is loaded with commission work for Jagged, Clara, Austin Moon and Kitty Section. It would be unfair to ask Marinette to do all that work and for free.”

The members of Kitty Section gulped.  Marinette smiled at her friend reassurance, and the fact they were now playing Lila instead of the other way around. “Well, it’s not a problem, but with my other responsibilities, it would take at least a couple of weeks… a month, even.”

“Can’t you just cut your current dolls legs?”

“I’d cut your legs first. Puppets and dolls are very different things. Even if I reuse the dolls, I still need to design the patterns for a functional puppet. Once I have it I would need to tweak it for the different characters.”

“We can help with the sewing” Offered Juleka. Rose and Mylene nodded. Ivan nodded too. Everyone just looked at him.

“Mom taught me how to knit. It’s relaxing. It’s different from sewing but I can help.”

“I can assist Marinette with the engineering of the puppets” offered Markov. Max nodded.

“We can do the backgrounds” offered Alix, pointing to Nathaniel.

“And Marc, Adrien and you can do the plots and dialogues. Nino can be the director.”

“Yeah, we all can help in one way or another!”

Alya thought of that. A puppet show was a little low brow, but it was for fun and everyone was willing to chip in. Even Lila could probably help if she didn’t lie her way out of it, or got akumatized first.

“We can try that.”

Everyone smiled and cheered for their new group (plus Marc) project.

“Ahem” Chloe cleared her throat. Everyone turned their attention to her. “I couldn’t help hearing…”

“Because you were spying on us”

“… I couldn’t help hearing on _purpose_ that you’re planning a Ladybug show made with puppets.”

“Yeah, so?”

“I want in.”

“Really? You think you can just come in, spy on us and demand to be included in our show? Just like that?”

“I’m paying for all expenses, including material for the puppets and the time Dupain-Cheng spends making them, the props, and anything else you might need. I need to approve of it, though”

“… what would you gain from it?”

“My only demands are: Marinette makes me a Queen Bee doll, Queen Bee gets to be a regular in the show and I voice her”

“You won’t interfere with the plots or try to change dialogues to make you look better?”

“I understand what a parody is, thank you very much, so as long as you don’t single out Queen Bee as a loser or butt monkey, I’ll play the part as written”

Alya thought about it. They doing voluntary work was good, but if Chloe was offering to pay for the puppets and props, it would be even better, Marinette deserved to be paid for her designs, after all.

“Deal” They did a handshake to seal the deal.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's how Equestria was made.  
> Would Chloe try to take advantage as the producer of the show?  
> Would Alya manage to reign in this chaos?  
> Would Lila try to convince everyone that the Muppets sent her crappy socks with goggly eyes glued to them?
> 
> (No, hell no, and yes)


	5. Clash of the Chat Noirs

Juleka grabbed one of the puppet prototypes that Marinette had sewed using some fabric leftovers. It vaguely resembled Chat Noir. She looked at Ivan sewing another one and grinned, an evil plan forming in her mind.

“Baby Chat do do doo doo” she started to sing mimicking movement with the puppet, much to the surprise of her friends. Marinette started to laugh.

“Great, now I’ll have that song my head _again_ ” complained Ivan. Mylene grinned evily and grabbed another proto Chat, tying a piece of fabric as a skirt.

“Mama Chat do do doo doo”

“Oh c’mon, you too?”

“I believe the term is ‘earworm’” said Max dutifully, while reviewing the latest patterns with Marinette. Rose had joined Mylene and Juleka in singing.

“Geez, I had no idea making a puppet was so much work” said Kim while playing with some of the prototype puppets.

“Well yeah. I could technically just wind it, but when you’re doing something from scratch, you have to try it several times, as the pattern is in two dimensions and has to be adaptable to create something in three dimensions. Like that one you’re holding looks ok, but it ended up being too narrow to properly fit a hand inside. And that other one I fixed the wideness, but as a result the head looks too small” explained Marinette, cutting the new patterns.

“Good thing Chloe bought all of this then” said Kim, putting his hand in the flowery Chat Noir with the small head.

“And we’re glad you both were able to come to help us carry it” said Marinette. Kim kept playing with the puppet, and Adrien blushed a bit.

“I thought you had a photo session?” wondered Mylene outloud, still playing.

“And fencing” added Rose.

“And Piano” added Juleka.

“And you also said something about Evil Monologues Class” finished Max. Adrien nodded.

“Yes, but my father asked Nathalie to reschedule all my day after I mentioned wanting to come to Marinette’s house to work on some puppets. He must really love puppets.” The girls looked at each other with a sly smile, wondering about the true intentions of Mister Agreste, and then looked at Marinette, who blushed at the implication.

 “I still don’t understand why you’re making all of them in the flowery fabrics instead of the monkey fabric”

“ _Minky_ fabric” corrected Marinette. “And even if we have all this fabric, I would hate to waste it in prototypes, that’s why we’re using leftovers”

“Aww, I’m sorry _Meowrinette_ ” said Kim through the puppet. Marinette was taken by surprise and couldn’t help but smile. “I didn’t mean to be wasteful with the monkey fabric!”

“It’s okay Puppet Chat” Marinette giggled, patting the puppet on its head. Adrien was a bit annoyed, and grabbed another of the Chat Noir prototypes.

“Don’t listen to him Pr… _Purrinette_ ” Adrien corrected himself, as Marinette could get suspicious of him calling her Princess. “He’s obviously just a copycat!”

Kim raised an eyebrow. “Oh no, don’t listen _to him_. There is only one person _clawsome_ enough to be Chat Noir, and it is I, Chat Noir, who is the only and one Chat Noir. I swear it’s not _Minky_ business!”

The others stopped torturing Ivan with their Baby Chat song and were now looking at the ‘fight’ of the Chats. Adrien was getting a bit angry that Kim was making a better Chat, as he couldn’t be too Chat-y or people would get suspicious.

\-----------

“Ah, frustration, jealousy, fear of… being… replaced…. GOSH DARN IT ADRIEN! I am SO not going to ruin your date with your secret girlfriend! Get your act together if you don’t want her to fall for another guy… Geez, I seriously need to talk to that boy. Hmm… I wonder…”

Hawk Moth grabbed one of his Butterflies, and instead of filling it with negative energy, he just let it go.

“Go my little… one… and _talk some damn sense in that boy_ ”

He never saw that butterfly again.

\---------

Adrien had to admit he was a little bit annoyed that the others liked Kim’s Chat Noir better than his.

“You should do Chat Noir’s voice! I mean, you already voiced him in the movie” said Rose trying to make him feel better. This made Adrien realize that he really couldn’t be Chat Noir here.

“I’d love to, but if I do that, That Guy would call me a traitor or other stuff. He might even threaten legal action again”

“But your contract already ended. And he can’t claim rights over your voice or Chat Noir”

“No, but the bad publicity, not to mention his lackeys would be troublesome no matter what” he sighed. “And my father would pull me from the project anyway. Kim should do Chat Noir”

“What? Me?”

“Yeah! You already have the dumbass flirty hero thing going on!”

 “Thanks!... I think… But I thought Nino was Chat Noir”

“He can’t. He’s going to direct and edit the show. It’s lots of work already to add voicing a main character”

“What about Ladybug? Alya?”

“Nope. She’s writing the plots and also overseeing the whole thing. Marinette should be Ladybug”

“WHAT? No I can’t! I have to supervise the puppets and props and everything!”

“Then who?”

“We’ll probably going to have auditions, but I think Mylene should do it”

“What? Why me?”

“You have a nice voice, and were already the main character of our previous project.”

“Rose should keep being Hawk Moth” added Juleka, hugging her gal pal. “It’s only fair”

“Do I get to use my fairy outfit?”

“It’s just voice acting, but sure”


	6. Forbidden Love

Adrien arrived at his home later that night. Nathalie greeted him, as always.

“Dinner will be ready soon.” She said, as stoical as always. Then she smiled. “You father is waiting for you”

“Really?” Adrien was at a loss of words, and practically ran to the living room, forgetting he was still carrying his bag with him. His father was absentmindedly watching a family portrait.

“Adrien, no running inside the house.”

“Sorry”

“Nevermind. So, how was your… ‘puppet making’ session with Miss Dupain-Cheng?” Adrien could swear his dad smirked, but it had been so quick he wasn’t sure. He was still a bit glad his dad seemed genuinely interested.

“It was good. We made a lot of prototypes, and it seems she finally made a puppet she was satisfied with”

“… you actually made puppets?”

“Yes! She even gave me one of them” Adrien reached inside his bag for one of the Chat Noir prototypes. The one that was given to him had a purple body with butterflies, green camo arms of different patterns that were too small for the size of the body, an orange head and bright blue hair. Adrien offered it to his father, who started inspecting it. “I know it’s a bit ugly, but…”

“Nonsense. There is nothing ugly about this puppet. The craftsmanship alone is remarkable, and the stitches… they are evenly and in a perfect straight line. The doll could use different materials, but…” Gabriel put his hand inside the puppet, it barely fit.

“It’s just a prototype, Marinette made it with leftovers…” Adrien went on the defensive, “the final product will be better”

“Most people don’t know the effort and work that goes into designing, sometimes the things we plan don’t exactly turn out how we desire. Miss Dupain-Cheng seems to know this” Adrien could swear his father was smiling “Every prototype, every pattern testing is a step in the right direction to get the result you so desire, and that is never a waste of time, OR of materials. It might take a couple of tries, or five or a hundred, but a good designer never quits; it’s a proof of their perseverance. This might not be aesthetically cohesive, but it was part of Miss Dupain-Cheng’s journey to create a perfect product, and it was obviously made with all her heart and soul. And by giving it to you, she has made it very clear that you were part of that very journey. Treasure this son; something you made with all your heart is not easy to part ways with. She must think very highly of you.”

Nathalie and Adrien were very surprised at the sincerity of Gabriel’s words. “Now go and give it a place of honor in your room, we wouldn’t want to disappoint Miss Marinette by ruining it by staining it with today’s dinner, would we?” He returned the puppet to Adrien. “We’ll have dinner when you return”

Speechless, Adrien thanked his father and left to his room.

“Wow, your father seems to have a very high opinion of the baker girl” said Plagg upon exiting Adrien’s bag. “I had never heard him expressing so much praise of someone before”

Adrien smiled, while placing the Chat Noir doll in his computer desk, near a picture of his mom with him.

“Yeah… he must _really_ love puppets”

-

“I never thought I would say this, but you really outdid yourself Marinette”

Chloe had just received her Queen Bee doll, which Marinette had handmade and matched the rest of her dolls. Uncharacteristically of Chloe, she was hugging the doll after having inspected it.

“And she smells like honey too! I shall call you Queenie”

“Well, it was only fair, you have held up your part of the deal” said Alya, amused at Chloe’s attitude towards a doll… and wondered how she could ask Marinette for a Rena Rouge doll for herself without mentioning she was Rena Rouge.

“I can’t wait to see the puppet version!”

“Well, considering you only became Queen Bee after your mom returned from New York that might take quite some time”

“What? You mean you’re not adding Queen Bee from the beginning?”

“Huh… no?”

“But why? Queen Bee is a very important part of the team!”

“But she’s not a _permanent_ part of the team, so she will only guest star in some episodes. Like Rena Rouge and Carapace”

Chloe placed her doll in her bag, and then crossed her arms defiantly.

“Let me put it this way _Cesaire_ …” Alya feared this. Chloe would take her sponsorship and they would end up with no budget for the show. “Would you rather make fun of me once every 20 episodes, or make fun of me _in every single episode_?”

This left Alya speechless.

“She does make a very convincing argument” commented Marinette. She wondered if there was a way to put Volpina in the show and make fun of her too.

“Okay, you do have a point. I guess we could include Rena Rouge and Carapace too and make a Five Hero Team”

“I don’t care about Rena Rouge” said Chloe rolling her eyes. “But Carapace is a total cutie, of course we should add him.”

“what”

“You like Carapace?”

“Well duh, I’m not a fan of the turtle theme, but I know he didn’t choose it… what’s not to like about a big strong guy who can totally protect you? He’s like a Knight in –form fitting - Green Spandex. And those arms? A total Hottie.”

-

“Achoo!”

“Gesundheit.”

“Thanks. I don’t know why, but a chill just ran down my spine”

-

Marinette was using all of her willpower to not fall to the ground laughing, while Alya was equal parts jealous, amused and furious that Chloe seemed to have developed a crush on her boyfriend.

“Chloparace has a nice ring to it”

“But isn’t Carapace the boyfriend of Rena Rouge?”

“Sadly, yes, and as much as I like him, I would never interfere in the relationship of a teammate.”

“How… _nice_ of you”

“I know. I’m awesome. I’m not even going to force you guys to write a love triangle in the show, as cool as it would be”

“SO, are we going to introduce Rena Rouge, Queen Bee and Carapace along with Ladybug and Chat Noir?”

“I guess, but we would need to rework their origin…”

“It’s not like we know how they were chosen…”

“Didn’t that Pharaoh Guy said Ladybug was like 5000 years old? Maybe they were dormant in pods and only woke up in modern times to fight Hawk Moth.”

“Maybe she was a princess of an ancient Kingdom and had to sacrifice her life to be with her beloved, and they have reincarnated in modern times.”

“Maybe they sealed a contract with a magical being to become a Magical Hero and the Akumas are former Magical Heroes that have been corrupted by negative energy.”

“Oh, I know! She was snooping at her father’s study and found a book with all the akumas and they became free and now she has to capture them!”

“I bet a radioactive ladybug bit her”

“I mean, if we’re going to rip off another franchise, we could go with just an ancient being giving the Miraculous to five Teenagers with Attitude™”

“An ancient being wearing a Hawaiian shirt…”

“Why a Hawaiian shirt?”

“… It would be… funny?”

“An Ancient Being that is in charge of the Miraculous… someone who was betrayed by an apprentice in the past, who took with him the Butterfly Miraculous… Someone that guards the Miraculous from the Forces of Evil… we shall call him… The Keeper”

“Why not the Guardian?”

“Keeper sound cooler”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> PLOT TWIST!


	7. A new Player Appears!

“What is… _that_?” asked Alya to Lila, who was showing off to their friends with a box that had stickers of the Muppets all over them.

“It’s what the Muppets Company sent me” She said. Alya approached the box and carefully saw inside. They were sock puppets with googly eyes crudely glued into them.

“They sent you… _this_?”

“Why yes, they were happy to help us in our project”

Alya and Nino looked at each other.

“Oh Lila, it was so nice of them”

“We’re using Dupain-Cheng puppets.”

Lila glared at Chloe. “What? But I went to so much trouble to ma… ask for the puppets!” said Lila in a tone that was clearly meant to evoke guilt.

“ _We_ spend a lot of time making the puppets that Marinette designed.”

“But you said you wanted me to ask Kermit for puppets”

“That was a month ago Lila, and you never confirmed you were asking for them. So we went ahead and made our own.”

Lila was preparing her cocodrile tears to get what she wanted, when she noticed Max rummaging the box. He took out the four ‘puppets’. A red one, a black one, a purple one and a orange one that Alya was sure was meant to be Volpina, not Rena Rouge.

“Is this all?” asked Max holding the orange puppet, examining it.

“Well yes, they were very generous providing us with those four. We shouldn’t get greedy” explained Lila.

“Then we can’t use them”

“What?”

“There is no legal form giving us permission to use them. As far as we know, ‘they’ send these as personal gifts to you, not to be used in a show.”

Lila was going to protest, but everyone was agreeing with Max.

“The last thing we need is for them to send us another ‘cease and desist’ like last time” Pointed out Nino. “I’m so sorry Lila, but we can’t use the puppets it cost you so much to… ask for.”

“FINE” yelled Lila, taking her puppets into the box and getting out of there.

-

“Ungratefulness, betrayal, blah blah blah… meh, it’s that insufferable girl. I’m not even going to interrupt our tea party to transform”

“A wise decision master”

-

“I almost feel bad for cutting her out of the project like that.” Everyone looked at Nino. “I said _almost_ ” everyone nodded.

“Well what’s the plan _Lady Boss_?” asked Kim in his Chat Noir voice.

“Well we are going to review our very first script” Nino started to give Mylene, Rose, Chloe and Kim, and some to the others. “We have highlighted your roles, we still have to choose who will play Rena Rouge and Carapace, and the Keeper of the Miraculous. Also a narrator, I guess, but the Keeper can do double duty with that one to add some cohesion. And I will kill you in your sleep if you call me that again”

“Duly noted”

“But what if the Narrator and the Kepper fight with each other?”

Alya stared at Juleka. “See? This is why we have brainstorm together before doing these things” she said, while scribbling some notes on a notebook.  “The narrator and the Keeper fighting like an old married couple” she muttered while writing.

“Adrikins should be Carapace”

“The hell he should. Why me?”

“Only you can match the rugged handsomeness and well built hotness that is Carapace”

Nino almost choked, even though he wasn’t drinking or eating anything. Marinette and Alya seemed the most amused of them.

“Uh… thanks? But I already declined being Chat Noir… my Father wouldn’t allow it”

“You should really stop using your Father as an excuse to not do things”

“You should _start_ using your Father as a deterrent to not do things, Miss ‘I skate inside the Louvre’”

“Touché”

“SO! Anyone else want to be either Carapace or Rena Rouge?” Alya was silently thankful that Lila had stormed out before asking that.

“I think I’ll have to save the show now”

Everyone turned to the newcomer. Marc had arrived a little late, but was not alone, his classmate and friend, Aurore Boreal was with him.

“I’ll be your Rena Rouge” she said bluntly.

“Uh”

“Hey Aurore”

“Hey Marinette! Marc told me about your group Project and I was curious and wanted to participate. I guess I arrived at the nick of time.” Aurore said, striking a pose with her parasol. Marc somehow changed her background for a kawaii one.

“Well, yeah, but it would be a bit unfair is someone else who was here first wants to be Rena Rouge”

Much to Alya’s annoyance, no one said anything.

“And who will be my Carapace?” said Aurore in a flirty tone. Kim raised his hand.

“Kim, You’re already Chat Noir”

“What? Oh no, I have to pee. May I go to the bathroom, please?”

Alya’s eye twitched and then just dismissed him. “Yeah, yeah…” Kim left the classroom in a rush. “SO! Carapace?... Nino?”

“Too much work in with editing and directing” Nino explained, eyeing Alya and mouthing “WTF” to her.

“Max?” said Alya, olympically ignoring her boyfriend protest.

“Also editing and more technical effects. Markov too”

“Nathaniel?”

“ Too busy making the backgrounds”

“Ivan?”

“I thought I was going to do the akuma voices?”

“Darn I forgot. Marc”

“… you kidding, right?”

“Only because I love you. Girls? Anyone want to play the turtle boy?”

“I can ask my brother. He was interested when I told him about the Puppet Show”

“He likes puppets?”

“He likes puppet makers” Juleka said eyeing Marinette. She blushed.

“Great! Luka does have a nice velvety voice that you can totally get lost just hearing him” Everyone stared at Adrien. Not that they disagreed, but still…

“So… should I ask him?”

“Yeah!”

Juleka excused herself and got outside to have a chat with her brother.

“Let’s hope he wants to be our Carapace. So, let’s review our script, shall we?”

Kim returned from his bathroom break, also asking permission to enter the classroom.

“Yes Kim, you may enter the classroom”

“What? Oh, no, I was going to ask to be Carapace”

“…”

“Juleka is asking her brother is he wants to be Carapace”

“The hot one with blue hair and a velvety voice?”

“…. Yes”

“He said yes! He’ll be here in a minute” said Juleka triumphantly entering the classroom. “You need to tune your thirst down a bit though”

“Gee, fine, I’ll control myself”

“Not you Marinette, _them_ ”

“… _fine_ ” pouted Kim. “He’s still hot” he whispered. Marc, Nathaniel and Adrien nodded.

“Well, while I was ignoring you guys” interrupted Aurore “I read the whole script. Is this Keeper guy real?” she asked bluntly.

“Not that we know” answered a bit too quickly Marinette. “We are adding him because someone had to give them their Miraculouses”

“Miraculi”

“What?”

“The plural of ‘Miraculous’ is ‘Miraculi’”

“Technically speaking, miraculous is an adjective, so the rules don’t apply to the object called ‘Miraculous’”

“… We should call them just Miraculous both in singular and plural”

“Agreed”

“… I hate all of you so much right now”

“What?”

“SO, this Keeper guy? Who’s going to play him”

“Goshdarnit I forgot about that!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I miiiight be stalling this a bit (7 chapters and still nothing of the show) but it's really fun to write the characters just being teens and planning a silly project.  
> I have to decide if Juleka will be Team Adrien or Team Luka.


	8. Origins Part 1

“Hello everyone!” Luka greeted everyone in the classroom by saying hello. He was a little taken aback when everyone waved back and some stared at him.

“Ok, the goggles I kinda dig, too steampunk for my tastes, but they have their own charm” said Alya eyeing the newcomer. “But why are you dressed like a Ninja Turtle?”

“To get in character!” he explained, with a dramatic pose.

“And the Captain America toy shield?”

“I’m on a budget.”

“Ah”

“Besides, do you know how hard it is to find Carapace merchandise?”

“Tell me about it! He’s the best one… after Ladybug and Queen Bee, of course, so one would expect for him to be included in all stuff!”

“Are you still crushing on him, eh Chloe?”

“Well, duh, he’s still a fine piece of…”

“Kagami! Hi!” Adrien greeted his friend when he noticed she had arrived and was looking at Luka and Rose weirdly.

“Hello. A background extra told me you were here. Ready for some good old sword to sword combat?”

“I thought you guys had fencing until tomorrow?”

“Yeah, but we’re practicing for the Renaissance Fair with real swords and name calling.”

“Oh…kay”

“SO! We’re kind of in the middle of our Ladybug Show and Adrien is an important part of this.”

“But I’m not voicing anyone or anything”

“I thought you were Chat Noir?”

“Spoilers, but no, that’s Kim”

“Well, since we rewrote a bit to make the Keeper and the Narrator different people, we kinda wanted you to be the narrator”

“I can narrate” said Kagami flipping through the script that Marinette had lent her. “This sounds fun”

“Thanks but you are kind of… stoic.”

“I can do other emotions”

“Other than angry?”

Kagami cleared her throat and dramatically placed the script at an appropriate reading level. “A long time ago, in a land far away, lived Princess Tikki, she was cute as a peach, in a pineapple way…” Kagami stopped her dramatic reading for a second and reread that line in her head again several times “wait, isn’t this a song from that Disney movie?”

“Yeah, Marc is kind of obsessed with Disney and made us put that in”

“High School Musical and is a cinematic masterpiece and very few movies have managed to achieve what they have done”

“Let me guess, Teen Beach Movie, Descendants and Camp Rock?”

“No, Camp Rock sucks. All the others, yes.”

“Well, if we’re done lusting after Zac Efron…”

“Alya, please, we’ll never be done lusting after Zac Efron. Have you seen Nathaniel’s comic?”

“… well, I have, I’m not sure if I like the TroyxRyan aternate ending”

“What can I say? Lucas Grabeel is more to my tastes”

“Yeah, but you didn’t had to include the ‘wedding night’”

“It was a commission AND I told you not to keep swiping…”

“Hey, let’s focus on the important, Kagami can read!”

“… excuse me?”

“I mean, Kagami can be our narrator. She has a nice voice… and this would add some color to our whitewashed cast” said Marinette pointing to Luka, Mylene, Aurore and Chloe. Kim felt offended he wasn’t pointed.

“Oh. I’m glad you think like that, because we decided to make you our Keeper”

“WHAT? Why me??? I’m busy with the puppet making and stuff!” Marinette replied, pointing to the box that had the puppets inside, with a frog-like creature wearing a Hawaiian shirt.

“He only appears every other episode and gives cryptic advice that the heroes must decipher on their own, it will be a piece of cake”

“FINE!” Marinette agreed finally, just to stop thinking how on point they were being about Grandpa Chan character.

“Okay, let’s start, Narrator?”

“A long time ago, in a land far away, lived Princess Tikki, she was cute as a peach in a pineapple way, although she hardly speak…y. She was born in the Silver Miraculous Kingdom, based on the moon. Princess Tikki fell in love with... Zefron..., a prince of earth, but because of evil Queen Grimhilde, earthlings and moonies started a war. As a last resort, Princess Tikki sacrificed herself and created the Miraculous, magic jewels that bestow extraordinary powers to those that hold them. Throughout history, heroes have used these jewels for the good of the human race.”

“As a descendant of Princess Tikki… wait, I thought she had sacrificed herself?”

“… she… huh… she left an egg behind. Go with the flow MariKeeper!”

“ ~~Tikki will kill me…~~ AHEM! As a Descendant of Princess Tikki, my duty for eons has been to keep the Miraculous safe and sound, and to choose worthy individuals when times of great need arise. I am the Keeper.”

“But this idiot couldn’t even do this basic thing and ended up losing one of the Miraculous, that of the Butterfly”

“Hey, everything was fine until the fire nation attacked!”

“Wrong show, and you still lost the Butterfly and its current holder is now causing trouble”

“Shush you disembodied voice, I’m going to chose five teenagers with attitude to fight against the current holder”

“You’re going to try to recover the Miraculous by losing even more? Specifically the ones he’s currently after?”

“Don’t question the traditions of my people!”

“Boop boop. And so, The Keeper chose five teenagers to be the current team of Miraculous holders that would hopefully recover the Butterfly Miraculous and not destroy the world in the process.”

“Carapace!” yelled Luka, which startled everyone, even Juleka. “With the Power of the Turtle, Protection is my game!”

“Rena Rouge!” said Aurore, adding a flirty wink at the end. “Illusions are my passion, I am the Fox”

“Queen Bee!” added Chloe, glaring at Aurore. Now she wouldn’t be able to play herself as the flirty one. “I am Bee. I am Queen… seriously?”

“Go with the flow Chlo-Chlo!” Chloe rolled her eyes and blew a raspberry.

“Chat Noir!” yelled Kim as enthusiastically as he could. “I’m just a Cat, at night I rule, my ring is charged with energy, my claws are out, just watch and see!”

“Chat, the camera is on the other direction” Mylene read from the script. “Hi! I’m Ladybug, my power is Common Sense!”

“Miracuteam!” yelled the five of them at the same time.

“Miracuteam? If that’s how they want to be called…”

“Well Mister… err… Miss Narrator, I wanted ‘Queen Bee and her Fabulous Four’ but these peasants thought otherwise”

“Impudent fools!” added Rose in the hammiest tone she could muster. “Now the Butterfly is the one putting traps, and those fools fell for it. It’s only a matter of time until I get their Miraculous and conquer the world MWAHAHAHA… or get Ice Cream. My motives are vague at best.”

“No adlibbing Rose!... Although I liked the evil laugh. Ok, we’ll keep that.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And once Again, the day was saved thanks to a bunch of puppets controlled by some amateurs!  
> Well, that's the Secret Origins of the Miraculous Team. Can you guess how many things Alya and Cia. are ripping off?
> 
> And yes, Marc is totally a Disney fanboy.


	9. The Start of Something New

“I’m home! Sorry I’m late, but I really didn’t want to come!” said Marinette upon arriving at her home. The Bakery was closed already, her dad was making dinner, and her mom was playing videogames. She placed her schoolbag on the sofa and grabbed a control that her mom offered.

“So I get you had a good time with your friends?” asked her mom curious, while they selected their characters for Smash Duty of Wars Go!

“Yes!” she replied earnestly. “It was a blast! We did a cold reading and all”

“I bet your show will be amazing”

“Ah, no it was _terrible,_ I was chosen as the Keeper and in cold readings it was ok, but totally fumbled my words when we were filming and on the polar opposite, we need to teach Kagami how to emote like a human being. HA! Gotcha!”

“Kagami? I thought you hated her…”

“Nah, she’s cool… I’m not thrilled that Adrien seems to have a thing for her, but at least she’s not horrible like Chloe or Lila”

“I thought they were also on your show?”

“Well, Chloe is paying, and she’s toned down her meanness… she even accepted we make fun of Queen Bee on the show”

“Ah good. So she’s not after Adrien?”

“She has been surprisingly mellow. I have to watch out Marc though” Added Marinette with a little laugh.”

“What? I thought he was with Nathaniel?”

“Well, yeah, but it turns out that they’re both fans of High School Musical, and they know all the songs AND the choreography, and after our rehearsal they did a duet of ‘Bop to the top’… Wish I had filmed it”

“Too bad you have never seen those. Have you?”

“Nope, that’s why I’m marathoning the movies this weekend with Nathaniel. Next time I’ll be Ryan!”

“Don’t you mean Sharpay?”

“Ah, no, Adrien sang Sharpay’s part of the song”

“Dinner’s ready!”

-

“Really son? ‘Bop to the top’?”

“Well, we did it for fun, and it’s not like anyone was filming at that point. Besides, I thought it would be a good way to boost everyone’s mood after our abysmal first drafts”

“Well, at least you choose the most fashionable characters. Hats do suit you after all”

“Ah no, I was Sharpay.”

“… oh. Pink suits you anyway.”

Adrien smiled. Ever since they started working on the show, his father had been much more approachable, and they had have dinner together almost every day and talk about their days. He must _really_ love puppets.

“So, what was Miss Dupain-Cheng opinion on your song and dance?”

“Eh? OH! She loved it, although it seems she hasn’t seen the movies. A shame really”

Gabriel raised an eyebrow at his son, while he kept eating his salad.

“Well son, you have the Super Hyper Mega Ultra Deluxe Limited Edition Full HD with the alternate endings where Troy ends up with Sharpay, and the secret one where he ends with Ryan?”

“No, that ending is from the second one, after Gabriella dumps him in song form.”

“Ah… ANYWAY, wouldn’t it be just marvelous if you shared your love… of High School Musical with Miss Dupain-Cheng?”

“A Karaoke night? You banned those after she broke our windows singing _Despacito_ ”

“Yeah, my ears still buzz when I remember that… No, I meant you could watch the movies with her! Go to her home, invite her here, and make _it a special night”_

“You’re right! I’ll text her right now!” Gabriel raised an eyebrow. “I’ll text her _after_ dinner!”

-

“Master, you haven’t akumatized anyone recently and I was wondering…”

“Oh… well, I wasn’t about to ruin my son’s dates. And the only person that has been pissed off lately has been that Rossi brat, and honestly, I’m sick of akumatizing her”

“… you akumatized Mr. Raimier 24 times already”

“Yeah, but I’m not sick of him. Besides, it’s funny to see that mangy cat and that bug fight against frigging pigeons.”

-

“Your old man was really insistent on you watching those movies with the baker girl”

“Yeah, he must really love HSM too!”

Plagg’s eye twitched, but he decided to go and grab a piece of camember from his secret stash.

“You going to text her or what?”

“Yep! Right now!”

“Don’t forget to tell her that her hair looked nice today!”

“What?”

“In a friendly way, of course”

“Right!”

Adrien got his phone out of his pocket and opened his ThumbBook™, where he saw Alya had published some of the pictures they took of their first day. Seeing Rose dressed as a very girly Hawk Moth and Luka as a very buff and kinda hot(in a bro way) Ninja Turtle, he wondered if Marinette would agree to wear a tacky Hawaiian shirt for their next meeting.

He then decided to message her.

“Hey Marinette”

She wasn’t online, so he didn’t expected her to reply.

“I was thinking about it and since you haven’t seen the HSM movies, If you like, we can watch them together! It’ll be fun. We can play some games after. OH, and your hair looked good today!”

…

“Not that it doesn’t look good every day, but today it was particularly good!”

-

On her side of the conversation, Marinette.exe had stopped working.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, sorry, no puppets this chapter, but Adrien being a fellow HSM was too funny to pass up.  
> This _probably_ won't have lasting consequenses in later chapters, other than even more mentions of HSM. 
> 
> Maybe


	10. Try Again to Not Get Sued

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> After a looooooooooooooooooooong time not writing for this silly AU, I had to reread the whole thing again to remember what was going on :p

“After so much blood, sweat and other body fluids I rather not mention, it seems our first episode was a success!”

Marinette was video chatting with Alya, while Nino uploaded their video to the Ladyblog.

“It was a hard journey, but I hope everyone will love it!”

“Everyone will, and even if they don’t it was a blast just doing it” said Marinette sincerely.

They talked about some homework and other things before they ended the call, and Marinette went to her own computer to be the first view of the First Episode of the Ladybug Puppet Show.

She wasn’t. When she got to the video it already had a couple dozen views, which was kind of a bummer to her. She still got to be the annoying person that comments “FIRST”(but in French) and nothing else.

Then she put play on the video, to see how Nino had edited it, and because it was the first time Tikki would be able to actually see it.

The little anthropomorphic personification of creation itself laughed her little ass off.

“If you’re not careful, your friends will discover you’re Ladybug!” warned Tikki after watching the video, wiping tears of joy from her eyes.

“They wouldn’t discover it even if I tattooed ‘I am Ladybug’ on my forehead”

Tikki raised her weird flipper hand thing in protest, but couldn’t actually find a good counter argument to that.

“Please don’t get that tattoo. Did Master Fu saw this?”

“I showed him the one Alya gave me before the editing…” Marinette trailed off, moving stuff on the computer.

“And…?”

“Well, he wasn’t amused by the Keeper, or how close to the truth their ideas actually were, but thought the whole thing was funny. He even gave me advice on how to sound like all I say is wise and deep and stuff when actually talking rubbish nonsense that the heroes have to interpret on their own instead of being actually helpful in any way. He was so very good at it”

Tikki waited to see if Marinette had any sort of realization about Master Fu, but none came from the oblivious girl. “So, he has no trouble with it?”

“No, just told me to be careful. He also gave me  _the tackiest_  Hawaiian shirt I have ever seen to get more in character. The colors actually gave me a headache, so that will be fun. Oh, and he loved the girly Hawk Moth”

-

Gabriel Abigail Agreste was mortified. He had seen the show his son had worked on with his secret girlfriend, and he actually enjoyed how much of a dumbass they portrayed the insect and that alley cat on it, and it goes without saying that he REALLY enjoyed how evil and scary they had made Hawk Moth, not to mention the Evil Monologues that they had come up with. He would be sure to add some of their puns to his own Evil Monologues.

On the other hand, their Hawk Moth was a girl. A scarily competent girl who made him actually forget they were playing puppets and it was all a performance, but still a teenage girl with a teenage girl voice that made him sound somehow even more evil than usual. That Rose girl was good. Maybe he could akumatize her into Princess Moth.

But she would probably kick his ass.

Still, seeing Adrien go to rehearsals and come all happy and giddy… he hadn’t smiled like that ever since Emilie… Gabriel was not pleased that Adrien seemed to be forgetting her, but OTOH, he couldn’t help but smile at how much Adrien’s relationship with his little secret girlfriend reminded him so much about his own youth, and Emilie’s.

“You would be so proud of him” He said to Emilie’s portrait.

He also made a mental note to commission a Hawk Moth doll (Or Puppet) from Adrien’s Secret Girlfriend.

-

The Ladybug Puppet Show took the internet by storm, and became a huge success overnight (*wink wink nudge nugde*). There were making even more memes of the show than of Chat Noir! (Adrien was a bit conflicted about that). Alya and her Alyanites(A name none of them actually agreed on) had been pleasantly surprised at the acceptance and the popularity their little awkward show was getting.

“I am pleasantly surprised at the acceptance and popularity our little awkward show is getting! Other than the death treat we received” Said Alya pleasantly, while placing her tray on the table they had selected for their lunch break. Juleka, Rose, Adrien and Nino were with her. Marinette had gone to eat at her house.

“WHAT? Death treats?? Is That Guy acting up again?” asked Adrien surprised, and a bit angry. Nino snorted, amused.

“What? No! Death Treat, singular. Rose got a bit too into character, but she promised to not send more of those”

“I mean, how many times I have to apologize for that message?” said an exasperated Rose. The others had managed to convince her to not wear her Princess Moth Costume to school, but she still wore the butterfly wings.

“Rose, you haven’t apologized even once” Said Nino, who was checking his cell phone.

“I was hoping the number would be zero”

“You Hawk Moth is showing” Juleka teased her gal pal playing with the shorter girl’s hair affectionately.

“I have to be ready for episode 2! By the way, when are we going to do that?”

Alya looked like a deer in headlights.

“You know, we  _should_ be writing that. I’ll grab Marc after classes. You in for some pun infested dialogue, Agreste?”

“Of course! I’d have to ask permission, but worse come to worse, we’ll videochat over it.”

“You’ll have a better chance if you say you’re going to Marinette’s” said Juleka with a sly smile, still playing with her Gal Pal hair. She had decided to play for both teams, Team Adrien and Team Luka. 

“Uh? You think so?”

“Yeah, you father  _loves_  puppets and puppet making”

Adrien thought on what Juleka had just said. But she was right, lately, he had almost always gotten permission when he mentioned that he wanted to go to Marinette’s to work on the puppet show.

He must really  _ **really**_  love puppets.


	11. Lila Gets Exposed

Lila felt weird.

Ever since returning from her “trip”, the class had believed all her tall tales so far, even briefly turning on that goody two shoes Marinette, but ever since they started their dumb little show, they had been paying her less and less attention. Sure, they still believed her, and included her in their reunions and projects, but whenever she tried to make herself the center of attention, to try to make their dumb little show include Ladybug’s BFF, aka herself, they would sidetrack her, like when she promised Original Muppets, and they had the gall to actually accept the offer and make her fulfill her promises. And after she spend all that time choosing good socks and the  _best_  googly eyes the store had, they had  _dared_  to refuse her masterpieces, all for the crappy puppets that Marinette was making.

To make matters worse, whenever she tried to get them to do something for her, they would say they were too busy with the show. Even Alya!

To quote Chloe, it was ridiculous, completely and utterly ridiculous!

But everything changed when they had their meeting for the second episode.

Unfortunately for Lila, people had less taste that she gave them credit for, and the first episode had been a success, despite its low brow humor, easy jokes, clichés and stereotypical and 2D characters. Chat Noir had even made a fart joke FFS!

After getting Ivan’s approval, it was decided that the second episode would be about Stoneheart, and have the team actually defeat him, since the first episode had been an origins story where they fought(and lost) Hawk Moth directly, which was honestly delightful. And it was kind of fun how much of a dumbass they were making the “heroes” out to be.

Marinette Dupain-Cheng had barely been paying attention to the meeting, lost on her own little world in her sketchpad, so Lila of course had to ask her what was she doing while everyone else was working. And that girl had smugly replied that she had been sketching some ideas for the puppet of Stoneheart. What a bitch. So of course everyone went to praise their little ‘Everyday Ladybug’. Gosh, Marinette was as bad as Ladybug sometimes.

But not everything was lost, after Marinette had allowed the others to praise her, she expressed some difficulty on making the puppet look scary and actually made of rocks, and was planning to go to the fabric store to see what they had, until Kim suggested gluing rocks to the puppet, which made everyone laugh.

Lila herself had said that they might was well use a rock with googly eyes (she still had some). Her plan, of course, was that Marinette would get furious and then she would play the pity card and turn the class against Marinette. Again.

She wasn’t planning that Ivan would actually like the idea of presenting Stoneheart as a silly rock with googly eyes. Mylene then said they could add some wax lips to the rock and kissed Ivan (yuck) and everyone loved the idea even more. Even Marinette! She didn’t seem to mind that now her sketches were for nothing! A simple comment meant that she had wasted her time trying to make a scary akuma puppet and she was smiling!

Lila was furious… or rather, she would have been, but the others were actually praising her idea. “Good thinking Lila!” she heard Rose say, with others echoing her. Unlike other times they were praising her, this time felt different… Lila couldn’t put her finger on why, or how, but she didn’t felt the usual rush she felt for being the center of attention, however, she felt something else. She wasn’t sure what it was.

She also promised to get the googly eyes she still had.

She actually got the horrible feeling that they were playing a prank on her, or that Marinette would reveal yet again that she actually made a stone puppet of Stoneheart and steal her thunder… but her googly eyes were actually well received. It felt weird to actually not break a promise and deliver what she had said she could do. It felt even weirder when Marinette genuinely thanked her. It was that weird feeling again.

Ivan even picked the rock she suggested would make a nice Stoneheart, and thanks to her experience with the socks puppets, she actually helped gluing the googly eyes to it.

She ended up with glue-y hands with colored paper, as did Ivan and Rose, (which was weird, because they weren’t using any paper) and she thought the others would make fun of her, but they didn’t! Kim was a dork(like always) and their comments actually made her laugh.

She contributed in other ways to the episode, always vigilant in case they were trying to prank her, but… the attack never came. Rose actually added some of Lila’s commentary to her adlibbing of Princess Moth. Marc had thanked her for some inspiration writing the episode. Including the fact that they made Stoneheart a Rock with googly eyes. It didn’t move or had any dialogues. It was just a rock, and still, the team had had difficulties defeating it.

Their favorite dialogue was Queen Bee using Venom on Stoneheart… which did absolutely nothing, and still the team being surprised it didn’t work.  

Hawk Moth had been avoiding her for some time now, which did not help with her mood, but on the other hand… ever since that meeting she had been a lot less annoyed at her being ghosted.

After Alya uploaded the episode “Stoneheart”, Lila noticed something that made her feel even weirder. Ever since that meeting, she hadn’t told the others any tall tale, or had asked for any special treatment, and yet the others were still as friendly as ever, even more than before. Marinette even made macaroons to celebrate the first episode getting a million views, and actually made her pistachio, her favorite flavor.

Lila felt weird.

And she kinda liked it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HA
> 
> If I’m going to redeem Gabriel and Chloe over a freaking puppet show, I might as well redeem Lila while I’m at it. And what better than redeem her over some googly eyes? I’m always salting on her, so this felt like something out of my comfort zone to do, so I did it. Don’t get me wrong, I still hate how she is handled in canon, but only making fun of her, even in this AU would get boring (and kind of mean for the other characters to keep doing) real fast. 
> 
> Is she still a horrible person? Yep! But she will change with the Power of Friendship, or die trying!
> 
> So the full title of this chapter was actually “Lila Gets Exposed... to Friendship”


End file.
